Roccamonfina

Roccamonfina is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Caserta in the Italian region Campania, located about 60 kilometres (37 mi) northwest of Naples and about 40 kilometres (25 mi) northwest of Caserta.

In the communal territory is the extinct volcano of Roccamonfina. The fossil human footprints called Ciampate del Diavolo have been found there. The town is notable for the dense groves of sweet chestnut trees which surround it.

History

In the territory of the volcano are traces of Ausonian or Auruncan settlements, with remains of polygonal walls dating to the 6th-5th century BC. Findings of coins and inscriptions seems to confirm the presence of a settlement in the current town as early as the 3rd century BC, although it is mentioned only in the 10th century AD.

In the Middle Ages and the modern era it was a fief of Neapolitan and Papal noble families, while under the Bourbon rulers it was a direct possession of the crown of the Two Sicilies.

Cuisine

Pizza Chiena AKA Pizza Rustica AKA Pizzagaina...

Roccamonfina (volcano)

The Volcano of Roccamonfina is an extinct volcano in Roccamonfina, Campania, southern Italy. It was active from some 650,000 to 50,000 years ago. It comprises an isolated large cone of some 25 km (16 mi) perimeter between the Monti Aurunci, the plain and valley of the Garigliano, the Monte Massico and the Monti Trebulani. The central caldera has a diameter of nearly 6 km (4 mi). Volcanic activity is now replaced by minor seismic movements and by the presence of mineral waters. The mount is part of the Roccamonfina-Garigliano Mouth Regional Park, created in 1999.

Geology

The volcano originated as a stratovolcano in the Garigliano rift valley, with a group of eructive mouths spread in a 1,000 km² (386 sq mi) area; later an effusive activity concentrated in the central area, forming a volcanic cone some 1,800 m-high, mostly formed of tephra and accompanied by minor cones such as the Monte Ofelio at south-west. Some 400,000 years ago, the collapse of the volcano's eastern sector formed a caldera which, for some time, was occupied by a volcanic lake.